Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

MARIO GAUCI This served as both a tribute to star Natasha Richardson (whose life was tragically cut short last week at just 45 years old) and a belated one in honor of celebrated playwright Harold Pinter (here functioning as a screenwriter adapting somebody else's novel). Considered a psychological thriller – although, for the most part, it plays like a drama with erotic undertones – my decision to watch it on the day allotted to the former genre certainly paid off given the shocking twist ending. Being set in Venice, it also evoked strong memories of my memorable fortnight's stay there for the 2004 Film Festival. The film is arty and deliberately-paced, but intriguing (if hardly original) and exceedingly well-cast: Christopher Walken (often resorting to hamminess elsewhere, he is quietly chilling here), Richardson (beautiful, obviously talented and truly the image of her mother, Vanessa Redgrave) and Rupert Everett as the couple he ensnares (for kicks) and Helen Mirren as his seemingly reluctant – but eventually revealed to be just as ruthless – wife/accomplice. Director Schrader, of course, had started off as a writer himself and he wisely leaves the actors (and, by extension, the script) to their own devices. To get back to Richardson's death for a moment, a number of striking parallels are to be found in the film: the central couple are on a vacation (which is what she was doing at the time of her untimely demise), her character has two children (as she did in real-life), and the Walkens intended leaving Venice for Canada (the place of Richardson's fatal skiing accident)!!

jervistetch This is one of those movies like "Mommie Dearest" that, after the first viewing, you're not sure that you could have possibly seen what you think you saw. It's so over the top that you need to shower afterward. And then, for some twisted reason, you watch it again and you start to like it. Everything about it is preposterous (though, Venice looks cool). Natasha Richardson and Rupert Everett play, perhaps, the dullest couple to ever grace the screen. It is impossible to care about, or even understand, the emotional quandary they're going through. Helen Mirren is completely insane, but nothing can prepare you for the vintage, bravura Walken performance. His monologue about his father (that he delivers more than once in a dubious Italian accent) is a zenith in the Hammy Hall of Fame. Seek out someone else that has seen it and recite that monologue to each other in a bad Italian dialect and you will seldom in your life laugh harder. Rent (or buy, as I have) quickly and brace yourself.

Ellen512 I bought this in a set marked as 'Triple Feature Romance'. I can't imagine the morbid mind that would consider this movie a romance! I don't think I would have liked it even if I hadn't been expecting an undemanding love story, but then I probably wouldn't have watched it if it had been in a set with an accurate label. Certainly there is sex, even love, mostly of a very odd, sick type, but the obsession that leads a couple to murder the unwitting object of their sexual fantasies goes beyond the mere quirkiness of BDSM and stalking into a truly surreal madness. Yes, the scenery is nice, but I'm not sure Colin is quite so beautiful as to cause such fascination at first sight from a distance, though the obsessive couple are frighteningly believable. *shudder* But I'm not sure I can believe the two would be so stupid as to return to the apartment of a man they already have good reason to feel uneasy about! Going there in the first place was odd enough after their experience with him the night before.Yuck!

pantera1 If you've ever been to Venice you'll see that it has two moods; the everyday touristy, grand canal, glassy goods and glassy eyed, singing gondolier one which is visible on the surface and in every square. And then there is the more malevolent broody one; with the passages off to nowhere, the sullen and unknown. This is of course the home of Carnivale, where masked intentions are hidden from obvious view.Movies in Venice tend to go with the latter, more sinister feel; from DEATH IN VENICE to DON'T LOOK NOW and this film is no exception, which is no surprise knowing the provenence of the original book, written by Ian McEwan. It tells the story of a couple who've come to Venice to sort out their marriage; to give it one last try. And on their explorations they fortuitously run into Robert who shows them around for their own and his own interest.The couple is played by the impossibly statuesque Rupert Everett and Joely Richardson (another one of Vanessa Redgrave's daughters.) And just the casting of Christopher Walken should give an inkling of further adventures. Apart from one or two changes, it closely follows the book and ultimately shows that there is an underlying hidden love between the couple that finds difficulty in expressing itself.The real star is the setting. It's moody, dark, scary, exciting. The sets themselves are rich and opulent; very Arabian night plush. The general feel is languid and louche. Add to that Harold Pinter's script, who can make buying a bus ticket sound ominous and you know you're in for an interesting ride.